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The efficacy of prayer has been studied since at least 1872, generally through experiments to determine whether prayer or intercessory prayer has a measurable effect on the health of the person for whom prayer is offered. A study in 2006 indicates that intercessory prayer in cardiac bypass patients had no discernible effects.
Prayer may occur privately and individually (sometimes called affective prayer), [13] or collectively, shared by or led on behalf of fellow-believers of either a specific faith tradition or a broader grouping of people. [14] Prayer can be incorporated into a daily "thought life", in which one is in constant communication with a god.
Christian prayer is an important activity in Christianity, and there are several different forms used for this practice. [1]Christian prayers are diverse: they can be completely spontaneous, or read entirely from a text, such as from a breviary, which contains the canonical hours that are said at fixed prayer times.
6. "Today's a new day, a chance for a new start. Yesterday is gone and with it any regrets, mistakes, or failures I may have experienced. It's a good day to be glad and give thanks, and I do, Lord.
Interior life is a life which seeks God in everything, a life of prayer and the practice of living in the presence of God. It connotes intimate, friendly conversation with Him, and a determined focus on internal prayer versus external actions, while these latter are transformed into means of prayer.
Thérèse of Lisieux describes prayer as "… a surge of the heart; it is a simple look turned toward heaven, it is a cry of recognition and of love, embracing both trial and joy." [1] By prayer one acknowledges God's power and goodness, and one's own neediness and dependence.
Thus, the most important means of a life consecrated to praying is the invoked name of God, as it is emphasized since the 5th century by the Thebaid anchorites, or by the later Athonite hesychasts. For the Orthodox the power of the Jesus Prayer comes not only from its content, but from the very invocation of Jesus' name. [20]
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